Wednesday, December 10, 2014

ALPHA MALAY NATIONAL ORGANIZATION (AMNO)

By Zaid Ibrahim

At last, some prominent Malays have decided to speak up to save the race and this country from becoming an ISIS state. Better late than never, and I hope they will follow up their public statement—published in the papers today and circulated widely on social media—with more assertive and effective activities to stop the rot.

What is needed now is for the Malays to be unafraid. They must want to stop Islamic bureaucrats and unscrupulous politicians from continuing to desecrate their values of education and culture. The Malays can no longer depend on those who have traditionally protected/defended their race and religion, for they have all become wealthy and greedy. The Malays have to take up the cudgel and fend for themselves for a change.

I am also doing my bit. Besides my writings, I have obtained encouraging support from other Malays and non-Malays to expand and promote an Internet platform that will collate positive and progressive ideas, expressed mainly in Bahasa Malaysia. Hopefully, more and more Malays will use the platform to reflect and think about the issues that are important to them.

For example, religion is important to the Malays, but they need to be exposed to other Islamic interpretations that are consistent with and relevant to the modern world. They need not listen only to the sources they have now. Of course, JAKIM, JAIS and JAWI will probably descend on me for propagating “false teachings”, but that’s the risk we must take if we want to save the Malays.

Besides religion, Malays must also be able to think independently and critically about economic, political and social issues. They need to go beyond the surface of emotions when picking their leaders. Is UMNO really helping the Malays economically, as they claim to? Is PAS really taking them to heaven, or is the party just a political tool to bring the ulamaks to Putrajaya? Malays must think hard of the real issues: why are they still poor, for example, when the country is so very rich? Casting their vote in an election is a waste of time if they are unwilling or unable to identify the truly important issues affecting their lives. The platform will be launched soon.

AMNO is a grouping of Malays who are putting this Internet platform together to encourage Malays to narrate their views and experiences, so that other Malays can benefit from this exposure. They do not need to become members or pay a subscription. They just have to participate in activities and write about their experiences—positive ones which can have a constructive effect on Malay thinking.

We need to create a new kind of Malay as the Najib version is useless and alien to us. “Alpha” means the dominant one, the leader, the one who asserts. Those gathered at the UMNO General Assembly are United Malays, but we are not interested in unity for the sake of the leaders. We want ordinary Malays to be strong, defiant but fair, and independent. We want them to be properly educated, rational and scientific. We have enough sycophants and shoe polishers.

Malays need to rebuild themselves through a new generation, one that is afraid. It’s an uphill task to change the Malays from their present path, but we all must at least try.

1 comment:

Let’s get the real show on the road. Let’s put the self-proclaimed "authorities" - politician’s handpicked fascists @ “Enlightened Beings” back in their trap. Enough using religion to push their politically inclined false agenda. Enough with the half a dozen benighted religious institution’s deception, plucking “fatwas” from thin air and shoving them down our throat. Enough with the “play God” and enough with the Wasatiyyah crap - we did not appoint you to Police us or teach us how to suck an egg. What we do is our business (on religious matters) and we are accountable for our actions to him and him only, here and now or thereafter – whichever comes first.

You have failed miserably in the last 57 years to institute moral values amongst Muslims. You failed to bring the people together. You failed to liberate our minds, failed to inspire us and become successful despite the hundreds of hadith that states so. You failed to curb social flaws, sexual crimes, drugs, baby dumping, close proximity that you so often preach. You are the last species on earth fit to dictate to us between the right and wrong, the good or bad.